Do you want to become a super hero?

Well, don’t throw yourself into that vat of toxic waste just yet, because there’s always a chance you’ll run into Kyle Marlett, whose new show, Mutant Powers, is just what you need. 

Convincing unsuspecting members of the public that you have magic powers is the stock and trade of a magician and child’s play for one as accomplished as Marlett, but he’s going to take the art one step further by convincing his marks that they too have superpowers.

Across five episodes, Marlett will convince people they have powers like telekinesis, super strength and weather control. The last time I saw this many people being convinced they could do the impossible, I was in a creative writing course at college. 

When he’s not duping people into thinking they’re unregistered members of The X-Men, Marlett has his hands full touring the world and consulting for big names in the magic world, as well as producing and appearing on a ton of different TV shows. His quick hands and lightning fast, jabbering patter are an absolute delight, as you can see in his excellent appearance on Fool Us:

Mutant Powers will run for five episodes on Facebook Watch, the-house-that-Zuckerberg-built‘s answer to Netflix.  The first episodes airs on May 24th, followed by an episode every Thursday at 3pm EST. Don’t worry, we’ll give you a shout when the show airs.

*Kyle Marlett will not actually give you super powers

A filmed performance of the 70’s one-act magic musical The Magic Show is now available on Amazon Prime, marking starring magician Doug Henning’s first appearance on a digital streaming platform.  

The Magic Show, which details the life and loves of an alcoholic magician working a seedy nightclub, opened on May 28th, 1974 and quickly became a broadway hit, earning Henning a Tony award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and director Grover Dale a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. The show closed in 1978 after some 1,920 performances. 

This version of The Magic Show was filmed for a possible cinema release back in 1980. It’s missing quite a few of the songs featured in the original stage show, but Henning’s magic performance is mostly intact. It was released on DVD back in 2001, but it’s notoriously hard to get your hands on a copy. It’s also the only recording of the show that’s available to the public, so you’ll have to take what you can get.